Inspiration
by Trowa Kyosuke
Summary: A continuation of the case at the end of 'The Girl In The Fridge'. BoothBrennan.
1. Chapter 1

**_Note:_** This is my first _Bones_ fiction, so any criticisms on how I portray characters or turn a tale would be greatly appreciated. I should probably take the time to mention that I am utterly hopeless at dialogue. Seriously. If I talk at all, people need a dictionary to decipher what I am saying.

_**Summary:**_ Another tag to _The Girl In the Fridge_. Special Agent Seeley Booth and Doctor Temperance Brennan converse over the remains of yet another dead female, or at least near one, on yet another unrelated topic.

_**Disclaimer:**_ I am not affiliated with the television show _Bones_, its characters, or anything else. They all belong to _Fox_.

Inspiration:

Special Agent Seeley Booth retrieved the end of his tie from where it was flailing inanely over his shoulder in the biting wind, tucking it under his suit jacket as he followed Doctor Temperance Brennan to his black S.U.V., which was parked somewhat conspicuously beside the blue coroners van. Reporters with their microphones and incessant questions tried vainly to get this evenings headlines. Flashes of light from cameras contributed to the ephemeral feeling of detachedness that Booth always felt when he was at a scene. Nothing seemed quite real until the body was laid out before him on a table, or files pertaining to the case were set on his desk.

Reaching the vehicle, Temperance opened the passenger door and retrieved her cell phone. Before she could make a call, Booth was standing close behind her asking for her attention. Turning around, the expression on his face gave her a large indication of what it was he wanted to say. Again, he looked sorry as he rested his forearm on the side of the S.U.V., leaning close to her so he could be heard over the wind and incoherent shouting.

"Bones, I know we've kinda been through this, but I wanted to explain why it is I got the lawyer to take that line of questioning with you." Despite the noise, he chose not to raise his voice to a more easily discernable level, preferring not to be overheard.

"You did so I could connect with the jury. I get that. It's okay Booth. Let's just concentrate on the case."

"It's not okay, Bones. I don't want to leave you thinking that you can't trust to tell me anything, that I will use it against you if I need to. That's not why I did it." Leaning closer still, he continued. "That jury was not going to convict those people unless someone could convince them otherwise, and you were the only person left who could do it. Your parents' disappearance inspired everything you became. You come across as aloof, but I think you feel more than most people 'cause you _connect_. You identify more with these people."

Picking up the spare roles of film from the side pocket of the car door that Brennan had originally gone to the car for, she made her way back to the corpse that waited patiently for its story to be unravelled, the attractive FBI agent trailing faithfully behind.

She really was not angry with him. She understood how it was vital to the case. That did not, however, stop her from feeling a small amount of resentment that logic and understanding could not displace. Resentment at having to sit there and disclose such personal information to a room full of strangers, when her friends had spent months (closer to years) earning that trust.

Brennan stopped abruptly mid-stride and turned to him. Booth managed to avoid colliding with her at the last minute, side-stepping her stationary form gracefully. His lips quirked as he gave her a 'I'm getting good' expression, hands out in an appropriate accompanying gesture. She could not resist a slight smile as she raised her eyebrows at him.

"I really need to phone Angela." She held up her cell phone as proof that she did, indeed, need to phone Angela.

"Won't she be out on some hot date?" He gave her a lopsided smile and raised an eyebrow. Temperance smiled and sighed patiently as she turned away to make the call, continuing on her trek to the body, which was now beginning to lose its patience. It was in, after all, a very uncomfortable position, not to mention the lack of fat and warm blood made the night decidedly more chilly than those alive could perceive.

"When you open up a little bit," Booth recommenced as if there had been no interruption after Brennan hung up, "it's easy to see that you're passionate about what you do. That you really care. You were asked about your parents because the jury needed to see you as I do. As your friends do," he was quick to correct himself.

Standing before the body once again, Temperance shivered slightly as the wind found a weakness in her lab coat. Lifting the camera, she began to take pictures with the fresh film, the camera's bulb flashing periodically.

"Most people hear all that medical jargon and switch off. They find it boring." She took a second to glare at him. "Now, I myself find it utterly enthralling, Bones, really. But we needed to - uh - bring you down to their level."

"Booth, I already figured all of this out. It's fine."

Not sure if he should continue, he watched her suppress a shiver again. Taking off his coat, he held it out to her again, knowing that now he was not wearing it, his chivalrous gesture would be harder to refuse. Holding it out further and leaning back, he gave her an endearing look.

"Please take my coat, Bones?"

__

_**Note:**_ I am not happy with this, so please tell me where I went wrong. I think I might continue, but only if it is worth the effort of research (though it is always fun looking up the various ways to snap a mandible). Thank you for reading.

Words have no more meaning than the actions that follow.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Summary:_** This is a continuation of the case at the end of _The Girl In The Fridge._

**_Disclaimer:_** I am not affiliated with the television show _Bones_, its characters, or anything else. They all belong to _Fox_.

Inspiration, Chapter Two:

Doctor Temperance Brennan glanced at the coat in Seeley Booth's hand, and then looked at the hopeful expression on his face. Giving him a small _I'll- indulge- you_ smile, she took the coat and put it on as she explained:

"It appears he has a fracture at the base of his skull, and there is some material singed on to the front of his face. It's concentrated mostly around the mouth, so it's probably some kind of gag. Hard to judge."

She knelt down beside the body as Booth whipped out his note book and began taking notes, looking up from the page every few seconds to see what Bones was talking about. It just looked like blackened, charred skin to him.

Kneeling down had caused the coat to enclose Temperance more, the collar now obscuring the lower half of her face. She could smell Booth's aftershave, nothing too strong. There was also an underlying scent that was just him. She took a moment to breathe in, and then checked herself. _Now I am just smelling Booth's coat? _She leaned closer to the body to see if there was anything underneath. _Now all can smell is burnt flesh and hair._ Glad that the nauseating smell was helping to clear her mind, she noticed that the elbow of the unidentified males left arm was broken, and on closer inspection so was the right.

"His arms are broken." She took a few close up pictures of the breaks.

"Are they defensive? Maybe his arms were held behind his back and snapped?" Booth suggested, making good his habit of conjecture. _At least it is more plausible than some of his other theories._

"It's too early to tell. I can probably verify how the breaks occurred once we get back to the lab."

Standing up, Temperance allowed the body to be prepared for transport back to the Jeffersonian. Making there way down the scaffolding, they again headed towards Booth's S.U.V. Once standing beside it, Temperance slipped out of Booth's coat, momentarily missing its warmth as she handed it back to its owner, who was , for some reason, standing behind her, white shirt undulating across his chest.

"Thank you."

His reply was to shiver slightly as he leaned over to open her door. He smiled at her questioning glance.

"Feeling chivalrous today?" she remarked as she settled into the passenger seat.

"I'm always a gentleman, Bones." He closed her door, then bowed outside her window before making his way over to his own side and getting in.

**_Note:_** Future chapters will be longer, but I just wanted to get this posted. Thank you for reading, and the reviews.

Words have no more meaning than the actions that follow.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer:_** I am not affiliated with the television show _Bones_, its characters, or anything else. They all belong to _Fox_.

Inspiration, Chapter Three:

There was a surprising amount of traffic on the way to the Jeffersonian for this time of night. Drumming his fingers rhythmically on the steering wheel, Booth sighed as the line of cars inched forward.

"Is there something going on tonight that I'm not aware of?" He held his hand out appealingly, eyes remaining locked on the dent in the boot of the car in front him, noticing that the tags came from Florida state. _Ah, the things they teach you to look out for in the F.B.I_. He even noticed the cardboard tree hanging from the rear view mirror.

"I wouldn't know."

"Maybe the aliens have finally landed," he muttered. Temperance just looked at him , before resuming her scanning of the world beyond her window, which currently consisted of the over weight man in the car in the lane beside them chewing gum with his mouth open. _ Another reason to choose forensic anthropology over social. _

Booth felt his cell phone vibrate in the breast pocket of his coat. He had set it on vibrate earlier because, with the noise of the wind, he was more likely to feel it than hear it, and he was expecting a call. Checking the caller I.D., Booth flipped open the phone and brought it to his ear.

"Booth," he paused a moment as the person on the other line spoke. "Just leave it on the coffee table." Another pause, and when he spoke again it was with restrained annoyance. "Yeah, I'm sure I got everything. Right. That's fine." He hung up without saying good bye, and caught Temperance's inquiring look. Booth remained silent as he took a right which would hopefully bypass some of the traffic.

Temperance had been looking over the bones for little over an hour the next morning when Booth appeared beside her. She had not noticed him come in.

"What have you got for me, Bones?" He took off the over coat he was wearing, which he had retrieved from his office, and draped it over an arm. Still bent over the remains, Temperance shot him a glare.

"Don't call me Bones." It was fast becoming her mantra.

"Look, Bones we've been over this. I'm not gonna stop."

"Well, then, I should give you a nickname." She straightened up, and walked over to a computer.

"You call me Booth, I call you Bones. Simple." He was rather interested in what she would come up with, though. Temperance thought for a moment.

"I'll come up with something," she finally said, drawing a blank. _How do you make a nickname out of _Seeley _or working for the F.B.I?_ Booth chuckled.

"Right. The body, Bones?"

Temperance proceeded to fill him in on the current data.

"It seems you were right about how he got the breaks in his arms. They were held behind his back," she demonstrated, "and forcefully pushed upwards, breaking them. We still haven't worked out the accelerant used, but Zack found this in the chest cavity."

Using forceps, she held up a small piece of metal, less than an inch in diameter.

"You said you found this in the body?" He was beginning to get a strange feeling of déjà vu.

"It has no external damage caused by the fire, and the only explanation I can think of is that it was placed there after the body was burnt. But why would someone wait that long?"

Booth leaned over her shoulder to get a closer look at the object in her hand. She was right. It was not burnt or blackened in any way, and appeared to be shaped like an….

Suddenly Booth knew what it was, and as quickly as he had come in, he left, sliding on the over coat with a flourish. He exited the building with his head bowed in thought.

"Booth?"

**_Note:_** Thank you for reading, and the reviews.

Words have no more meaning than the actions that follow.


End file.
